Charity Case Episode Review

Honey, I'm House! We're back to the old Housian feeling of past seasons, but with a fresh sense of the re-born rather than the re-cycled. The case centres around a man who seems to suffer (as House immediately refuses to believe it could be anything but a symptom) of extreme altruism. His generosity surpasses a rational sense of giving. His ambivalence towards his family, in the sense that he loves them and yet does not elevate them above other human beings, proposed a strange paradox in terms of caring. House of course jumped at the opportunity to take advantage of the man's disproportionate sense of generosity, but interestingly, not for his own use, per se, but in order to get his team back.

When Thirteen begins to con the patient into giving her a kidney in order to analyse his mental state, he immediately agrees despite the fact that it will kill him. Adams, Foreman and Wilson believed that the man was not sick and had the mental capacity to agree to the first kidney donation, so this proves just how wrong they were (as well as revealing more of the "true" perspective to us). It also goes to show just how much perspectives differ in terms of looking at humanity. House, Thirteen and Chi, who are the skeptics and realists, see this need to be extremely charitable as part of a disease. We see both a rosy and dark version of the issue. I'm more of a realist and this IS House, so I'm glad dark wins. However it is a happy ending as the man is cured and although he will continue giving, he gets his family back. And House can once again say: I was right.

So we go from the POTW who cannot stop giving charity to Chi who refuses to accept any. I thought the banter between Adams and Chi was superbly written, especially in the locker room where the shoes were involved:

Chi: "You want me to return these, give them to someone, wear them while you masturbate?"
...
Chi: "You do know I punched the last person that pissed me off"
Adams: "Was it Santa?"

Chi's refusal comes from principle, which is great because it doesn't stop her from helping House con Adams into a one upmanship in order to get his car fixed. It's a win-win-win, as Adams thinks she's beat Chi, Chi has actually beaten Adams, and House gets what he wants. I think having Chi as House's ally is great, especially as she doesn't let him walk all over her. Adams does prove that she is not a wallflower either as her charity is not in the realms of generosity in this case, however both her and Thirteen are working for free, hence another aspect of charity.

I thought House's scenes with Thirteen were true to both their natures and beautifully written. His selfishness was overcome when he realised just how happy she was and that it was an innate sense of guilt that was keeping her in the hospital working as a doctor. So the last (veiled) act of charity is letting her go. I'm really sad to see Thirteen leave as she has such an interesting presence on the team and has evolved so much.

On a happier note, we also see a little bit of the clinic, which many of us have enjoyed a lot in the past, often seeing House humiliating his patients. So let's hope for more to come!

Charity Case (Episode 3)

We now know that episode 3 is called 'Charity Case', it was written by Sara Hess and will be directed by Greg Yaitanes.

Speculation time:

This time I found it easier to get a piece of paper and a pencil and write down what came to mind when I thought about what 'Charity Case' could mean in terms of episode content. One important piece of the puzzle was provided by Michael Ausiello via TVLine.

October 17th refers to Charity Case. This is my theory:

First I thought about the title: Is it really as straightforward as it sounds (unlikely)? Is Charity the name of the patient? (if so it could mean something all together different from what it implies). Is the patient a VIP?.... It lead me to think that the patient could be connected somehow to the new DoM. 

Scenario: 

House is back at PPTH (we know the writers want to get back to the medical side of things). The new DoM forces House to take on a charity case, basically work for free, as House is unlikely to agree to do any sort of charity (more or less use his talent and simultaneously punish and humiliate him- I'm thinking Foreman or Vogler here...). House has no choice if he wants to work again. PPTH is probably the only hospital that will take him back with a criminal record. 

The patient has Huntingtons......AND another disease. The symptoms of both diseases interlink making it difficult to differentiate the symptoms and diagnose the secondary illness. House calls in Thirteen. She feels both guilty and proud for euthanising her brother. She agrees to come in because perhaps, in a small way, helping someone else can make up for being powerless to save her brother ("The Dig"). 

Her knowledge of Huntingtons (notably because of her mother) helps her understand the effects of the secondary disease more clearly. Eventually she helps House diagnose the disease. It is extraordinarily rare to have the combination of the two (that's why they need House). It means that somehow the medication needed to treat the secondary disease helps postpone the symptoms of Huntingtons appearing (adding a few years to the patient's life perhaps). 

Thirteen feels like she has redeemed herself inspite believing (knowing) what she did was right (her brother). It's "bittersweet" because her disease will continue to progress without any extra time to "live life". She leaves again without telling anyone. Not even House knows this time. If it's the last season, as Ausiello said, she won't come back. If not, we may see her again and House may have to keep his promise ("The Dig"). 

Note: Take the "medical" side of my theory with a pinch of salt, what I say may not be medically accurate.